UKIP to face tribunal over Brexit vote data

The United Kingdom Independence Party will face a tribunal after it failed to cooperate with an investigation into the use of analytics during the EU referendum campaign.

UKIP was asked to provide details about its Brexit campaign to the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which in May announced it was launching an investigation into how political parties use data to target voters, particularly on social media.

Parties that target voters through social media had been warned that if they sent political messages to people based on their individual data, they could be breaking the law.

Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, said more than 30 organizations were under scrutiny. While some were cooperating, she said, “others are making it difficult.”

Denham said the ICO formally ordered four organizations to disclose information, including UKIP, “who have now appealed … to the information rights tribunal.”

A UKIP spokesman said the party was prepared to cooperate with the ICO but was appealing against the threat of criminal sanctions. “We’re perfectly happy to deal with them, but not under the threat,” he said, the Guardian reported.